General Information About Reverse Osmosis

What is Reverse Osmosis?

It is a process whereby you deionize water and demineralize water by subjecting the water under intense pressure by passing it through a membrane that is semi-permeable. The reverse osmosis faucet assists in the filtration of water at home.

Reverse osmosis as compared to osmosis

Osmosis is a natural process that does not require energy. To change the process, you need to use power.

The reverse osmosis membrane is the semi-permeable membrane that allows water to pass through the membranes but not the salts in water.

The methodology of reverse osmosis

In reverse osmosis, high-pressure pump is used to forcefully let the water pass through the membrane which is semi-permeable. Thus leaving around ninety-five percent of dissolved salts in the reject stream. The concentration of the salt in the water determines the amount of pressure exerted, so as to overpower the pressure as a result of osmosis.

The demineralized water is also called permeate water. Water that does not go through the membrane of reverse osmosis. It is also reffered  to as reject water.

Process

As the water enters the reverse osmosis membrane, enough pressure needs to be asserted so as to overcome the osmotic pressure. The water passes through a semi-permeable membrane and the contaminants, and the salts cannot go through the brine stream, which eventually goes to the drain or can go through the water supply or recycled through the reverse osmosis to save water. Water that passes through the reverse osmosis membrane is called product water and has up to ninety-nine percent dissolved salts removed.

Operation

A reverse osmosis system employs a cross filtration instead of standard filtration.In conventional filtration, the contaminants are collected within the filter media. With cross filtration, the water passes through the filter with two outlets. The contaminated and filtered water goes in two different directions.A high turbulence is used to keep the membrane surface clean to avoid having contaminants in the system

What are some of the impurities that reverse osmosis remove?

Reverse Osmosis can remove up to ninety-nine percent of pyrogens, bacteria, ions, colloids and particles. The reverse osmosis membrane removes contamination based on their charge and size.

Conclusion

The greater the ionic charge, the more it is impossible for the for the contaminated water to pass through the membrane. Reverse osmosis does not quickly remove gas that is not highly ionized like carbon dioxide.

Reverse osmosis is better for treating ground water, surface and brackish for small and large water applications. Industries that use reverse osmosis include food and beverage, metal finishing, boiler feed water and semiconductor manufacturing, etc.